Reposition
by YouGottaSingAlong
Summary: SPOILERS. Children of Earth spoilers throughout. What could have happened if the Doctor had arrived at the start of Day 5? Could he have made a difference? Janto. Rated T, for a bit of gore, not too much mind, but it's there.
1. And The Answer Arrives

_A/N1: Spoilers for Children of Earth._

_A/N2: This will in no way act in redemption of Captain Bloody Jack Flipping Harkness, the Coward Who Runs More Than The Doctor. This is written because we don't believe Ianto should have died for Ianto's sake. Because YOU JUST DON'T KILL IANTO. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, I wish I did, because none of Day 5 and little of Day 4 would have happened if I did. Instead, I resorted to this, as my only option._

* * *

"You will die," The voice of the 456 spoke, Jack looked up, the rage inside him, dampened by the heavy wait in his arms, and his heart, "And tomorrow, your people will deliver the children."

Jack looked from Ianto Jones, dead, to the shapes in the blue tank that had killed him, he smiled, a grimace really, and resolved inside that he would fix this somehow. Leaning over, because it was his last chance to do it, Jack kissed Ianto before slumping over his body, dead.

Cabinet Office Briefing Room A was silent, every man and woman shocked. The Prime Minister spoke first, "What now?"

"Two choices," the man speaking sounded reluctant, refusing at first to look anyone in the eye. "Either we go to war against an enemy we can't beat, or we go to war against our own people..."

----

Gwen and Jack sat with John Frobisher and his assistant, Bridget Spears, Gwen attempting to ignore the sinking feeling that surrounded her, the despair. "The threat still stands." Frobisher attempted to interrupt, but Gwen continued through him. "My husband is still out there with everything you've done recorded on his laptop. One word from me and he will release that information to the public." Her words were quiet but layered with anger and grief.

Frobisher hated himself inside for taunting them like this, but continued with his job, "What do you think Torchwood is now? Do you think you're still players?"

Gwen's voice broke while Jack remained silent, not trusting himself to speak, to do anything, "We can try."

Blackmail followed from the hard face of John Frobisher, barely veiled threats, harsh warnings. Jack looked to the ground, finally opening his mouth, but as he spoke, he could not meet Gwen's eyes. "He's right."

Gwen looked round at him in disbelief. _Since when did Jack Harkness allow himself to be beaten down by civil servants? He didn't blanch before twenty foot tall monsters, sucking the life from the human race. Usually._ Jack continued. "Look what happened..... Phone Rhys, tell him we've lost."

Gwen sighed, looking at Jack, but he was no longer the man she had once known, he was crippled, mentally, giving in to greater odds than were imaginable_. _This was not the Jack she knew, still, he was her boss. Gwen drew out her phone and walked away from him.

Rhys grabbed the ringing phone beside him. "Typical, I only just got a bite to eat an... Hello? Yeah, me, an' I'm bloody freezing... Where're you?" there was silence at the other end. "Are you alright?" Still no reply. "Do you want me to send the files?" Rhys was getting worried.

Finally she answered him. "It's too late, sweetheart, they've killed him... Not just him, they killed... they've killed Iant..." The 'O' became a slight breath of disbelief. Rhys closed his eyes as she confirmed the last words he'd hoped that he had misheard. "He's dead."

Jack finished with Frobisher, "... one thing, please. Take Gwen home. I can't... look at her anymore."

------

Jack watched from the ground as Gwen and Rhys' helicopter took off, shaking off at first the soldier waiting to cuff him, "Wait. Just wait." He spoke quietly, it was almost impossible to hear over the blades cutting through the air and the faint, curious warping that rang… Jack started, he knew that sound, he knew it twenty times over, he turned to face the men behind him, but as they held out his bonds he ignored them, walking through towards the steadily growing sound, towards the blue cuboid that became clearer with each passing second, until eventually the solid shape stood before Jack.

Too chirpily for such a time, a man in a brown pinstriped suit and dirty white Converse hung round the door. "Hello, Captain. Do you need a hand?"

Jack looked at him in disbelief. The Doctor, the man they had needed so badly, chose to turn up now, now the deeds were already done. The worst was already happening, Jack had failed, Earth was doomed whatever _he_ did, and it was already too late for some.

"Doctor," he breathed, "what are you doing here?"

The Doctor held up Martha's phone. "I got a call."

The armed guard suddenly came to themselves, and advanced upon the two men, with a quick glance back, Jack followed the Doctor into the TARDIS.

As the Doctor busied himself with the tapings of the negotiations with the 456, Jack walked around the TARDIS, something he had not had the chance to do in years. Just look, distract himself by marvelling at the Time Lords' technology, even broken, the TARDIS was a formidable and beautiful being. He ran his hands lightly along the surfaces and rails, and found, at one point, a blue-purple cloth jacket slung over one of them. Rose's jacket. A rush of memories hit him out of nowhere. With a hopeful, fleeting smile, he looked down at the floor. His crazed eyes widened in amazement. He glanced up at the Doctor, rushing around at the controls. At the floor. At the jacket. At himself. His brain had already begun forming a plan.

_

* * *

__It might take me a while to get an UD together, but for once I do have a plan. Which is good._


	2. Right And Wrong?

_**Chapter dedication to enigma-kar, for bringing it to mind that I had to UD this soon, and moonchild94 for reassuring me on the name for the 456 and on Jack's flirting/coaxing with the TARDIS, she is also responsible for the TARDIS' being pissed off at Jack for 'old girl' comments. Both are brilliant writers, and I would thoroughly advise checking out their fics**_

_a/n: The next chap will be about everything not Jack that was happening throughout this one. His daughter and Johnson, Frobisher and the PM, maybe a bit of the Doctor, and Gwen and Rhys at Ianto's family. I'll try that for Saturday at the latest._

_A/N2: Sorry this is a bit short, but the above was meant to happen between the Jack bits, and I couldn't' be bothered re-watching and typing out all the Day 5 stuff that wouldn't have changed that much, and I still have masses of stuff to do despite promising several people I would UD today. Plus OutCold, who _should_ be helping me with this, abandoned me. _

_----_

The Doctor looked in horror at the screen. Slamming his fist down on a dashboard, he spat out, "Nagrae! The intergalactic druggies, always looking for the next quick fix." The Doctor's face was fixed with a look of utter distaste, bordering upon horror, as he leapt to his feet. "Captain, give me a hand..." He saw Jack leaning over Rose's jacket, his eyes fighting back tears, a feeling the Doctor knew only too well, the man needed to be left on his own. "In fact, can you just keep an eye on this old girl?" He grabbed a large orange and black rucksack, and left Jack alone in the TARDIS.

As soon as the second Converse clad foot left, slamming the door behind it, Jack leapt to his feet. The Doctor would kill him when he found out about this, but it was the only way... The man who couldn't die knelt on the ground where once, in happier times, the Doctor had chirpily lifted a Raxacoricofallapatorian egg from the now shut barrier between him and the ancient being below.

Jack stroked around the edges of the grating coaxingly, "C'mon, old girl. Open for Uncle Jack." As he pulled, Jack was surprised to find it easily fell away with his touch. He leant over the hole, finding his eyes closed, as if something was gently discouraging him from doing this. _Now is not the time to develop a conscience_. He opened his eyes.

----

Jack turned, his breaths quickened, his heart racing faster than he should be able to survive. But now it was not just Jack on the inside, a second consciousness filled part of his mind he had not realised even existed. He gasped and vomited twice, she did not like being called 'old girl' evidentially. The TARDIS seemed to be shying away from the rest of the mind it had occupied, not filling and merging with it as Jack had expected.

_I know I'm 'wrong'. But I need your help._

_I know._

The Jack that was still Jack started. He had not expected a clear answer. It was a chorus of a thousand voices, male, female and machine, the Doctor himself did not know it, but the TARDIS was singing his song with every thought it spoke.

_You know what I need to do._

_I know what you are going to do._

_Will you help?_

_Yes. _

The second consciousness joined Jack's own, he power surged through his body emanating from every pore, every orifice of his body.

_How do we bring him back?_

The TARDIS felt smug*, replying that the deed was already done. Jack fell to his knees and vomited again.

----

Ianto shot upright, spasming as he did so. The two men who had been burying the bodies looked round, alarmed, Ianto felt his face, "What? How? Where am I?"

----

The yellow light of the TARDIS spewed out of Jack.

_What's happening?_

_You are wrong, I am dying._

"Crap." Jack burst out before letting out another gasp of golden energy. He was shaking violently; his face was sweating feverishly with the effort of removing the being from his body.

------

_This was a little rushed in places, for which I apologise most sincerely. If I make any changes, I'll tell you in the author's note for the next chap._

_I also send my apologies for any missing letters. My keyboard is ancient and very broken. _

_* I know, it isn't the word you use to describe a hugely superior and beautiful being, but I couldn't think of another word, nor would my thesaurus come up with anything better._


	3. Meeting Your Eye

_**Dedications: Okay, this chapter is basically my own adaptation of the wonderful, if sadistic, writing of RTD. The killing of Frobisher is courtesy of **_moonchild94_**, being the wonderful, talented, kind… and generous person she is, who has been invaluable in the writing of this fic, that segment may read differently to the rest as it is the work of two people plus because it mainly had to be thoughts, I was working alongside purely music, there was no speech, and I couldn't do those film shots that go between Spears and Frobisher without mucking it up, so I made it more about what Frobisher was thinking, how his mind was working at the time, both the italics and normal. Hope it doesn't confuse you.**_

_**Also thanks to **_OutCold, _**merci beaucoup for allowing me to work on this amidst a nightstayer, and all of my reviewers, many thanks, keep 'em coming. Oh, and The Pogues for their song 'Drunken Boat' which I played over and over again full blast while writing the non-adapted parts.**_

_**Disclaimer: C'mon, how likely is it I own this? I'm way too young for starters.**_

Agent Johnson walked along a row of empty cells, fumbling her keys as she walked. Eventually she reached the door she had been searching for, hauling it open she found a dark haired woman clutching her son close. "Ms. Carter."

....

"Take a look at this." Johnson pointed out the screen, displaying the images Gwen had given her. Alice took a single glance before grabbing her son and guiding him from the room. He gave a weak attempt at remaining; Johnson motioned to one of her officers, "Suzanne! Get him a Coke or something." Suzanne Knight led Stephen from the room, briefly wondering if there were any Cokes left in the fridge.

Johnson continued, "It's inside Thames House." Alice watched the screen in disbelief and horror. A child, wired into what they were calling 'the 456', filled the monitor. "All recorded by Torchwood... They're inventive I'll give them that." Alice continued staring in silence. "That's a child, abducted in nineteen sixty-five. Now they want more, millions more. And in two hours time... The Government is handing them over."

----

Frobisher walked tensely towards the Prime Minister's office, he rubbed his hands together, a nervous twitch. Every sense was screaming at him something was wrong... but John already knew that, he already knew there was no way this could get worse than it already was. Ignoring his instincts to run screaming from the door, he instead raised his hand, closing his eyes briefly, Frobisher chapped the door sharply, three times. A voice beckoned him in, John pushed open the door, "You asked to see me, sir."

Brian Green's eyes remained fixed on the budget notice he was signing for the Chancellor. "Take a seat." He still refused to meet the other man's eye. Frobisher felt compelled to fill the silence.

"Terrible day." He stated, his voice tired and rasping. It felt as though he had not slept in forty years. Not since that last night when his mother had had tucked him in and told him to be 'a good boy, make me proud, Johnny'. It was the last night she ever did that. The events that were taking place along the country, around the world, as he spoke would not make her proud. But he had his own family to think about now. His own... "So, I was wonderin..."

"Your names chosen, John." The educated Essex accent stated this bluntly, without much emotion, barely a thought to what he was doing to the man across the desk from him.

Frobisher's heart began racing, "Right... um, good... in what way chosen?"

Green returned to his sheet of paper. "The inoculation story seems to have gained some currency. It might even be called popular."

Frobisher rubbed his hands against each other, "Indeed... and what's that got to do with me?"

"Your children will be inoculated."

His mind raced as fast as his heart beat, attempting to work out what was being said to him, "I... see."

"In two hours. They'll be selected news media at your house. You will be seen to offer your children for treatment. This will be broadcast on every network channel at twelve o'clock midday."

Frobisher's head shook slightly; the pressure was building up at the back of his head, pushing in on his brain. "But there is no inoculation." He grasped at the facts, saying them out loud, having hem confirmed.

"This action will help the public, and show them no cause for unrest."

"You mean," His last hope. "I'm going to pretend they're going to be inoculated."

The Prime Minister once, again glanced down at the budget. "Your children will them be taken to one of the designated rendezvous points. And they will become... part of the... the process." Silence fell between them once more. "It's our duty now, to think beyond this... this _terrible day_. And once it's over the Government _must_ be seen... as victims of the 456. We must be seen to have lost."

Frobisher took a sharp breath in, "If you put me on camera, I will tell people the truth."

Green finally met the doomed man's eye, "Then... your daughters will know where they are going... You best not." Green almost smirked, before stopping himself. Now was not the time for cock-a-sure leader.

Frobisher leapt to his feet, "_I can't do it... I WON'T! You can't make me._"

"In which case, your children will be taken without you."

"B..." The civil servant was almost in tears as he leant over the desk, "But you've seen what they do to them."

Frobisher continued yelling, stuttering, to no avail. The Prime Minister looked up, now completely unable to look at the man straight, "I'm sorry, John. I'm really, very sorry." _Budget, Brian, after all this, we're still going to need money. Concentrate on the budget._ "And I'm really very busy."

Disbelief, horror and pain riddled across his face, Frobisher slammed the door behind him, very carefully, one foot, two foot, he took a few steps.

------

Bridget stood upon spotting John walking, zombie-like, though a set of doors. "What do you want?" the sentence should have been sharp, but her one was soft.

"Bridget.... I need a requisition 31." She looked at him, shocked, but professional.

"What for?"

"We should go." He rubbed his nose.

"But what for, sir?"

"Requisition 31, thank you." Now it was he who could not meet another's eye. Bridget set her chin, giving him an accusing glare, she set off.

-----

Bridget held out her identification and John's code. "Requisition 31."

The officer handed her a sheet, "Jus' sign there." Bridget marked it down, this should not be the last thing she did for John Frobisher. Signing a death warrant.

----

Andy Davidson stood beside his car, he had been requested to pick Gwen up, all he had been old was that she had been acquitted of the terrorism charges, "Bloody know-it-alls come charging in thinking they own the place. What happens? They get it wrong."

He watched as Gwen and Rhys jumped from the copter. Something bad had happened, something very bad. The look on her face was identical to the one she had had little under six months before when two of her colleagues had died, some raid and the Asian girl had been shot, the other had been perished in the Cardiff Bombings the same day.

She should have stuck on the Force.

As she ran towards him, slightly ahead of Rhys, he greeted her in Welsh, before drawing her into a warm embrace.

-----

"Everyone's on stand-by." He explained, glancing over a Gwen as he drove. "It's red alert . Riot gear, and _everything_. All ready to mobilise, 'cept no-one's saying why." He cut up and down with his hand to annunciate what he was saying. "What's going on?"

"I can't tell you," Gwen's voice and manner had been distant for the whole journey so far.

"I am the police."

"Yeah, and right now, Andy, I need you to drive this car, and if I told you..."

"What?!" Andy's tone was alert yet pleading, and somewhat irate. "Well, c'mon then, what? .... Don't you bloody hate people who don't finish their sentences?"

"Hey," Rhys' tone was defensive. "She's pregnant."

Gwen came a little more to her usual sarcastic self, "Well thank you, who's 'she' when she's at home?"

"Well bloody hellfire," Andy looked briefly astonished, before giving her a half smile. "Who's the father?"

Rhys blew out, "I'm slapping you, ya."

Gwen remained in silence then, after a few seconds, spoke up again, "It's Torchwood. That's what did it. They give you RetCon and chemicals and radiation and God knows what, bloody pill didn't' stand a chance... That's what Torchwood does, you see... It ruins your life."

"How's it ruined?"

"You wanna have kids in a world like this, Rhys?"

"You're not getting rid of it."

Gwen turned, "Is that right?" Rhys was silenced by her look. "Take the next left. Ianto's sister lives off the Cromwell Estate."

-----

The Home Secretary glanced over at the clock, she read the time as it bleeped. "Eleven o'clock, one hour to go."

General Pierce turned to Green. "Are we in position?"

Riley answered, "Troops are moving in, sir."

-----

Bridget signed in to meet Lois, to tell her a story, and to learn in return. She told the story of John Frobisher.

-----

He arrived home amidst a horde of paparazzi, the grey box burning a hole in his briefcase. He motioned them away with a small wave of his hand. This moment was not one that should be remembered.

_What is it like to live your last few moments alive?_ He thought he knew. He had to know, now. These were his last moments alive. John Alexander Frobisher was filled with a sudden yearning, a sudden aching to be anywhere but in his own house, waiting to do what he had to do, any time but now, anyone but himself. But he had no choice. _Kill or be killed, I will not walk away from this mess... No. They will blame me, if only to get away with it. My career destroyed, my family dead either way. Dead to me._

_I will die with honour to my name rather than horror._ It did not occur to him that a triple homicide was not how you gained honour, yet since when are a dead man's thoughts rational.

_My daughters. My beautiful, beautiful daughters. They could be so much. They would be so much, without the 456. _He put on a smile for them_. They deserve that much. They deserve smiles, hugs, happiness. I can give my daughters these, but not forever. Not forever, as they deserve. Time is running out. They're young, too young, to be stolen away from the beauty that is life._

He promised them a surprise. Frobisher told them to go upstairs. Everything will be alright.

_They don't know what I'm talking about, but I am their father. They'll listen to me... they trust me. I wish so much they didn't. Why didn't they run? Why didn't Anna grab them and run?_

For a second, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Do... do _this_ to his wife and daughters? _Can I really? But it's only a second. Less, really. It's less than a second that I hesitate, because I know... I know that if I do nothing, everything will be done without me._

And he couldn't let that happen.

He reached for his briefcase and put it on the table. Slowly, deliberating every step of the way, he opened the case and pulled out the grey box. He opened that, slowly. His hands shook violently, as he pulled out the gun and inserted a clip. He hid it behind his back and walked up the stairs to meet his fate.

It seemed to take ages to walk up those stairs. As he passed over those fifteen steps, slowly, ghosts of his wife and daughters ran up and down the hem past him, laughing, joking, smiling. Sharing a happiness that he was never grateful for. He had always taken it for granted. Never once, in all his years, had he thought that it would end like this. That he would know exactly when the end was coming.

He walked into the room where they were waiting, his hear so heavy, it almost had him on the floor, and the beats were slow now. His wife looked at him expectantly, yet fearfully, hoping for an explanation of his bloodshot eyes. His wonderful, beautiful daughters are having a pillow fight. Hitting each other with the colourful pillows in the colourful room that was too cheery, too young, too pink for what was about to happen.

He shut the door behind him.

He moved them all onto the bed together. Next to each other. Facing out the window, away from him. He couldn't bear to see their faces as they died.

_Three shots, a humane execution_, he told himself, _not like living with those masks... forever suspended in that gas. _He had done the right thing. "The right thing." He murmured softly as he raised the gun to his own head. Placing it under his chin. The metal was cold against his skin. The trigger was smooth, just waiting for a tiny movement from his hand, one twitch, and it was all over.

A fourth shot rang through the house.

_**Please review, I spent hours translating this to script. It's shocking how long it takes to write a mere two minutes, watching pausing, rewatching to check for a word you missed or a subtle movement. It really makes you hate actors. ;) Jokes, I just wish there are more way of saying 'meet your eye' and the variations of it.**_


	4. Something Missing In The Air

_Sorry this took longer than originally intended. I wrote half then couldn't find it so had to rewrite it and the other half, also ridiculous quantities of homework and revision got in the way... my excuse list is endless. This is about half of what it should be, but I'll post it as I said I would post at the weekend, and I'll work on the UD from Thursday night. Oh, and Lucy, the reason I can watch Day 5 without killing myself is because in the background I play a selection of 50s and 60s Rock 'n' Roll._

_Disclaimer: Just take the last three chapters' ones for granted, nothing's changed_

_Dedication: This is dedicated to YouGottaSingAlong as I think I deserve a dedication in this for all the finger and eye aching work I've put in, also for moonchild94 who beta-ed this pathetic excuse for a chapter._

----------------

"Then get _out_." Jack gasped, writhing on the floor. He rolled himself over so he was supporting his body on all fours... his eyes glinted orange, before misting over.

Jack Harkness was dead, with the dying TARDIS still struggling to escape.

----

"Now." Bridget stood up, after getting what she wanted from Lois. "I think I should get back to work."

She left the cell, Lois still trapped within it, and swung her bag onto her back taking a sharp breath in through her front teeth. As she departed, Lois heard her heels echo across the room, before the room once more became silent.

----

The three in Cardiff slammed their respective car doors closed, "Rhys," Gwen immediately took charge; it had always proved to be best way to distract herself. "You stay here. Shout if anything happens."

Andy looked incredulous; someday, a look that would be his permanent expression surely, "For what?"

"Just keep an eye out." It wasn't really a reply to the Police Constable but reaffirming it with her husband, who nodded. Andy swung his legs, his 'police swagger', searching for something else to ask.

"You know Ianto?"

Gwen made an affirmative noise.

"Was he gay?" Gwen was nostalgically reminded of the old days, back on the Force.

"Shut up."

"They might not know." He waved his hand towards the hose.

"Well, in which case _do not_ say."

He looked up, from his shoes, which he had been attempting to check for chewing gum without being noticed, "Well, that proves my point."

Gwen was getting sick of Andy's jokes, initially they had cheered her up, now she was getting to feel they were too jaunty for the situation, "Look, there's a lot more going on. You've just got to trust me."

_Who? _Andy asked himself, E_ver trusts someone who says 'you've just gotta trust me'? Honestly, does she think I'm an idiot?_

"Okay," Gwen continued, "She's got two kids, we just need to find out where they are. That's why we need a car, we might have to pick them up from school and take them back to mine. Okay?"

"Back to yours? What for?"

"Andy, we've gotta look after these kids, just do what I say. _Please._"

_So now, _finally,_ she goes for the nice approach. _Andy sighed, and Gwen knew he was agreeing, he trusted her...

The door was opened by a dark haired woman in a salmon pink jumper. As she looked, panicked, form one to the other, Andy spoke first, "Uh, hello, I'm Police Constable Andy Da-"

"You... you're not shutting me down." Gwen exchanged a confused glance with the policeman. "They got food, they got drinks, proper drinks, and I got permission from their parents. C'mon," She gestured aggressively for them to enter, the house sounded as if twenty kids were running around inside, "Have a look. I'm not apologising." She walked through, Andy and Gwen followed her.

Sure enough, tens of kids – between four years old and twelve - were trashing the house with drinks (proper drinks, that is) and food and general childish rampage.

------

Jack's body continued with unwilling seizures, he was on the ground, blood vessels became all too clear, shot through his eyes, his tendons were stretched to the max. He was now vomiting huge quantities of bile and blood on the grating, "The... quick... er..." he panted, "... you... out..."

The Doctor burst back through, "Sorry, Captain, I just needed my..." The Doctor stopped, something was wrong. It was almost as if there was something missing in the air itself... he looked in utter dismay at Jack, realising too late what must have happened. He ran over to Jack, heaving him up onto his lap, why had he left Jack alone in that state, why did he never learn from past mistakes, _old and doddery, I hate old age,_ "C'mon, Captain, get it out, get her out."

"I'm... I'm sorry, Docto.." Jack gasped grabbing the front of the Doctor's shirt. "Ianto..."

"I felt it, I know, now, we need to concentrate on you. Ianto'll be fine."

------

"But..." One of the men stuttered. "Weren't you dead?"

Ianto Jones, eyes wide, reeled upright, "Was I? ... must have been... a freak of nature." He straightened his tie and staggered, as if drunk for the exit, _My brain isn't working yet, obviously_,

_Okay, body, men giving me looks like I'm a zombie, slight dead leg feeling_... Ianto's brain, coming to order, was struggling to work out what was going on. _It's not the Gauntlet, they're destroyed surely, anyway, this isn't how Owen said it was._

He buttoned up his waistcoat while regaining balance. "Jack!" How the thought had escaped him for so long he did not know, hadn't he... died, in the man's arms, and he couldn't even do the service of thinking of him before straightening a tie and buttoning a waistcoat.

"You idiot, Ianto Jones."

----------------

_Okay, please review. I know theis chapter isn't exactly a work of art, but I've had 15 non-reviewed cases of Story Alert and as complimented I am by them, I would love to actually get some feedback... don't make me name and shame ;)_


	5. Never Really Known Him

A/N: Yes, I know, I know, I went OOC on a few characters but I felt I needed to UD before David Tennant was on Sarah Jane :D Thursday 29th (tomorrow!) here I come! So I apologise, and _constructive_ criticism is welcome, don't tell me you thing I'm out of character then don't help me.

Dedications: My beta filter, I went through three this time. Thanks as per to **moonchild94**, my usual beta for _Reposition_ and as always brilliant, saved what was utter nonsense, and **enigma-kar** for giving it a final read through and once again pointing out that I was writing gibberish. Paragrap[h 4 has been sorted but is still a bit o_O

Disclaimer: Doesn't the fact I'm writing this at all tell you I don't own the characters... oh, and I don't own _Pride And Prejudice_, just to clarify.

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The Doctor cursed his luck. Martha was bad enough; it felt unfaithful to Rose, all this kissing other people. He knew she had him, but he still didn't have _her_... there must be a way round the biological transfer. He just hadn't thought of it yet. The grown man whimpered in his arms as the fire burned through his head. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about this, but if he stopped, that was just what the Doctor did. He stopped and thought, if he was running he was fine, but as soon as he halted _this _happened, he began considering options. If there were options but bargaining Jack's life alongside the TARDIS', both of them were too important, both still had to save so many lives...

Jack passed out again. Every time this happened a little more of the heart of the TARDIS was lost. While he was out, the Doctor leant over Jack, trying to focus on the positives: Jack wasn't exactly the ugliest man on Earth, or anywhere else for that matter, fifty-first century breeding... he himself was close enough to the TARDIS to get her back into her place, hopefully without having to regenerate... Jack wasn't all that bad looking... Jack was _out cold_, hopefully would not wake up until after this was don-

He inhaled sharply as he fell away from the Captain, tipping his head into the hole in the bronze grating. _Exhale, exhale, oh the days when you could just kick it into a Converse, exhale, OPEN YOUR MOUTH! _

The Doctor found that in times of extreme stress he had a tendency to be dense, doing this the first time he had almost killed himself, and worse, freaked out Rose, this time he almost forgot to open his mouth. If he didn't open his mouth... well, what could come out a closed mouth?

Jack came round, blinking, he was about to say '_Was someone kissing me?_' before 1) realising that he'd used that line before and it didn't quite have the ring of 'Captain Jack Harkness' and 2) he was sure to be wrong, as the only other person in the TARDIS was the wiry Time Lord with his quiff down the gap in the TARDIS floor, "Doctor? What's-"

Jack started as he saw a sign from the Doctor's hand that was the last thing he had thought he'd ever see the man make. Sinfrean hand gestures were never good. "Okay... I'm in trouble then."

The Doctor felt betrayed, Jack knew he shouldn't be making a joke out of it but... he needed to get out of here. He needed to find Ianto. Wherever he was.

--------

Ianto had slowed down to a brisk walk, realising with shock that he had been taken to Hertfordshire '_Royal National Rose Society Gardens' _he read on the sign. They had moved the bodies over twenty miles from their death place. "Hertfordshire?" Ianto muttered under his breath. "Who's in Hertfordshire?"

The only answer he could give himself was 'Elizabeth Bennet' as he looked around, resisting the temptation to throw himself on the ground and pound his fists on the ground in childish anger. The street was, now he finally noticed, strangely quiet. The calm before the storm, the worst was still to come.

---------

Gwen stared around, the reality of everything, all the kids, hitting her. Jack had asked her, had ordered her, to save Ianto's niece and nephew. But what about the rest of them? Were they just to die? Andy's pleas to speak to the adults alone fell upon deaf ears, even his colleague wasn't listening, she was just... _nineteen kids?_

---------

_**11:59**_

_**:**_

_**12:00**_

Denise Riley, the Home Secretary, turned as it bleeped, she had been watching it for the last five minutes, just waiting, that was all, just waiting, "Do we begin?"

It was Green at the head of the table who spoke first, "We have no choice."

General Pierce his voice sharp and businesslike with some self-important arrogance spoke over him, "You don't give the orders here, Mister Green." He nodded, "Stage one."

Several phones were grabbed and several armed forces trucks and school buses moved. Moved in. The storm had struck its first clap of thunder. Soldiers in jungle khaki flooded into school playgrounds.

Teachers and parents were forced back, anyone who tried to run was caught and lifted kicking and yelling onto the transport as their parents stood screaming a fighting on the sideline.

_Christopher! That's my son! That's my kid! Alice! Sandy! Kim! _The yells were echoed across the county.

-------

"He worked in Debenhams!" Rhiannon choked to Gwen's horror. Andy had finally dragged them into a separate room, and, yes, they had told them about Ianto. They had told her, but... Gwen didn't blame her. She was in shock. "If Ianto... if Ianto gave you that load of _shit_, you never knew him at all."

As Gwen looked at the distraught woman she realised she was right. She had never known Ianto, not really, she didn't know about his family, other than Lisa and Jack she didn't know about his personal life. He only ever let slip small things, tiny details that had been impossible to pick up on, really.

She hadn't really known him.

---------

Jack flung open the door. "I need to find Ianto."

The Doctor swung round, chasing him out the door. "Jack! Jack, you don't even know where he is!"

He watched Jack run, grey greatcoat billowing out behind him, and feet hammering the tiles. He considered yelling out again, but Jack had violent mood swings, and the Doctor didn't want to be the one to confront him.

Woe betide the man who tried to catch him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again to Lucy, and don't worry, between two foggy and incoherent brains I think this came out okay. And there was no _Phantom of the Opera._


	6. Calm Before The Storm

A/N: This is a filler, I felt I hadn't updated in a few centuries (life's been completely hectic). So this is just to get the story moving again and begin to round everyone to my grande finale I've been scrabbling this together. It meets the requirements; one banana, one Valerie Robinson, and one sea/boat related thing :p I will admit I forgot about this, and menat to post it yesterday.

Dedication: As always, thanks to **moonchild94** for betaing, and hope y'all had a good Christmas

Disclaimer: I do not spend that much on costume for John Simm

Reminder:

_As Gwen looked at the distraught woman she realised she was right. She had never known Ianto, not really, she didn't know about his family, other than Lisa and Jack she didn't know about his personal life. He only ever let slip small things, tiny details that had been impossible to pick up on, really._

_She hadn't really known him._

_---------_

_Jack flung open the door. "I need to find Ianto."_

_The Doctor swung round, chasing him out the door. "Jack! Jack, you don't even know where he is!"_

_He watched Jack run, grey greatcoat billowing out behind him, and feet hammering the tiles. He considered yelling out again, but Jack had violent mood swings, and the Doctor didn't want to be the one to confront him._

_Woe betide the man who tried to catch him._

* * *

Alice Carter watched her son, watched Steven playing football with two of the secret service officers. Paul, Logan, Martin and Smith, she had been given only surnames, but they were keeping Steven company, they were stopping him from seeing her fear and she would always be grateful towards them for it. Johnson walked up to her, uneasily, offering a paper cup with some lukewarm coffee inside – or at least Alice hoped that was all it was, she was never sure with these people – and stood there, watching as she took a small sip.

"It's started." Johnson said.

Alice looked up, she had been expecting the words, but to hear them, "Jesus."

--------

At a word from the General, army trucks moved away from the schools and into the streets. Stage two: Remove from target homes.

Rhys watched them turn the corner in horror; he was momentarily struck lame, before finding his legs and hammering over the road for the Davies' home.

"I swear," Gwen sensed that time was drawing short. "I swear on my life. You have to get those kids out of this house. Is there anywhere we can take them? I dunno, anywhere safe?"

Andy was confused, not quite understanding exactly what was going on; all he saw was Gwen getting increasingly insane and the woman, Rhiannon Davies, getting increasingly upset. As he tried to get her to stop Rhys burst through the front door.

He glanced around at seemingly hundreds of children, he dropped down to their level asking one urgently, "Do you know where Mrs Davies is?"

Gwen snapped round as her husband came into the small room, barely able to catch his breath, "They're here."

Soldiers with unnecessary levels of webbing attached to their forest gear dismounted from the trucks. The five adults ran outside, Gwen faced the others, "They are coming for your kids, I swear to you."

"Don't be stupid." Johnny spat.

"_They_ _are going to come into your house, and they are going to take your kids_. I'm sorry but you've got to believe me. _That's _why Ianto died, okay? He was trying to stop them. They're gonna come and they're going to take your kids. You'll never see them again." The truth etched on Gwen's face dawned on the Davies', their mouths hanging slightly agape. "Never."

-------

Alice was still staring at her son, when Johnson spoke again. "He'll be fine," she reassured her. "The nice kids are safe... you're going to get rid of ten percent, get rid of the ten percent that you don't want." Alice looked at her, just looked. The matter of fact way the woman just said these things. Alice wondered if she'd ever lost someone... if that was what made her so detached? "All those children on street corners. They finally got rid of them."

"While everyone else just stays indoors? Ninety percent just hugging their kids, not making a sound, just like they did before... I don't even know your name."

Johnson finally betrayed emotion, "I _protect _the state, I was brought up to believe in 'protect the state'."

"Not much good now, are you?" Alice found a way into the armoured exterior. "Even if ninety percent look the other way, what kind of world are you leaving behind? I swear to you, if your duty is to protect the state above and beyond any other authority; then the one person you need right now is Jack Harkness."

Johnson stood up and walked across the length of the room, stopping in front of a blonde headed officer in the black gear they all wore, but with his helmet off. He saluted her as she approached, "Ma'am."

"Logan, I need to know where Harkness is."

The man squirmed, "Our, our only intel is that he was last seen leaving a police box in Bakers Street."

"A police box?"

"A blue one."

"A blue police box on Bakers Street? Okay, if he's not in the blue police box on Bakers Street anymore where the hell is he?" Johnson demanded of the young man.

"We don't know, ma'am, but we're on it. It's just monitoring the CCTV and having men out after him; we don't have enough…"

"Just find him, Logan, and get him back here."

"Yes ma'am."

"Alive!" Not that it mattered she supposed; he had survived being blown to smithereens, but you never knew what might break the camel's back.

--------

Dekker looked over in shock as he saw the gunmen taking bagfuls of his research and computers. "Hey, what are you doing?" The next thing he saw was a flash of metal as Logan smashed his temple, knocking the older man unconscious.

"You boys finish up here. Take Dekker back to the warehouse. I'm meeting with Ocean, they think Eternal's been spotted." He dashed out, swinging the gun over his shoulder as he shouted into his radio for back-up. "Eternal has been found, Ocean Squad requesting back-up. Contacting Ocean leader for coordinates, over."

---------

Ianto stripped the banana he had been offered by Valerie. She sat on the bench beside him, for the twentieth time he thanked her. "Mrs Robinson, I can't thank you enough for doing this..."

"She hasn't agreed yet, Ianto, she said she'd consider it-"

"- if I don't look like a paedophile." Ianto grinned, taking a bite from the yellow-cream fruit.

A blue Fiat pulled up, the woman who stepped out narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Mrs Robinson? Is this him?"

Valerie nodded, "Ianto Jones, Emily Brown. Emily is a friend of my granddaughter."

Ianto held out his hand to the dark haired woman, grinning openly, desperate to get a lift. "It's good to meet you, Miss Brown."

Emily raised her eyebrows, contemplating the man. He was well dressed, if slightly grubby, but had an odd smell like he had rolled in something dead a few hours ago. Grudgingly she nodded, allowing him in. "Where do you want to be? And if it's farther than Westminster you're paying."


	7. They Have A Point

A/N: Oo, _loooong_ chapter. Sorry to anyone I've been ignoring to write this and my English, everything's a bit all over the place and I keep losing things o_O not to mention a stinking cold, really shouldn't be one the computer, but I just slept for 24 hours solid

A/N2: I need a kiwi fruit…

Disclaimer: I own Doctor Who. There you go, I am secretly the BBC, you can call me 'Beebs' for short if you want. Nice to meet you. (Disclaimer: This author does not lay claim to Doctor Who, the British Broadcasting Corporation or anything else to do with them)

Dedication: as mentioned in the A/N, anyone I've ignored. Sorry. And thanks again to **moonchild94 – **enjoy the wonders of Blue-Ray - for going over this

* * *

Gwen helped the five year old girl get her coat on, wondering briefly whether she would find herself repeating this action in a few years… or whether she would merely be some filed document; giving her name, birth and death. Back with Ianto and Tosh and Owen and Suzie – an Afterlife? All together in a deceased personnel file. "Don't make a sound, that's right, like a game, yeah?"

Andy was getting steadily less confused, and more irate, no-one would answer him these days. What was the point in a police force if they weren't actually doing anything? "Alpha one-eight-six to Control.. Is anyone there?"

While Gwen went for nursery techniques of fingers on lips, Rhiannon opted for a more traditional bribery approach to control the children, "Now, you don't make a noise until we get there, OK? You stay nice and quiet, and I'll get you some sweets, yeah?"

Andy repeated his line into the transceiver, as Gwen and Rhiannon began hustling the kids out. "Alpha one-eight-six to Control. Can you hear me?"

As the last of the children filed out, Gwen looked back at him, "Are you coming? Andy?"

Andy looked mutinous, determined to find out what the hell was going on, and left through the front door. Gwen looked back briefly at him, before following the others out the back. Andy emerged from the front, hat in hand and closing the door automatically behind him, as a line of soldiers ran to a nearby door. "Control, this is Alpha one-eight-six. What's going on?"

Round the back, Gwen and Rhys led the kids out, following Rhiannon's directions. As more soldiers filed out, Rhys lifted one of the smaller girls, with an encouraging smile. "Take it easy. Take it easy, come on."

As Rhys tried to keep them organised and moving; Johnny ran up to his wife following a distraught shout from one of their neighbours, "Rhi! You take them. I'm going out the front. Somebody's gotta stop them."

"No, Johnny, don't be stupid."

Johnny shook his head in exasperation, "It's not just us, you daft sod."

He kissed Rhiannon briefly, before pounding off. Soldiers began to break into the houses, as Gwen urged the children to move faster keeping low behind a garden wall. Johnny met several of the other local men; some had obviously noticed something was badly wrong as they carried 'weapons' in their hands.

"All that stuff on the news," Johnny rallied them, "all that inoculation stuff, its bollocks, right? The government has sold us out. They're coming to get our kids, and we're not getting them back, boys, right? We got to stop them?"

As the men grabbed anything they could to fight off the oncoming guard, a second line of soldiers formed with clear riot shields and batons. Johnny continued to shout, urging the other men on, and together the group, now larger, began to march toward the soldiers. Other soldiers were carrying children screaming out of a house. At this sight, the crowd broke and ran toward the soldiers who held up their shields against the onslaught of bricks, iron and human flesh that rammed into them.

Andy watched on the sidelines, unsure at first whether a local police officer should become involved in a street brawl. But as he watched, who was in the right became swiftly clear to him, alongside Gwen's desperation, he did - contrary to some people's belief of officers - have eyes. He started forward, jaw set, tearing off his police jacket and the flak underneath, so distancing himself for being attacked for being one of 'them', he joined the fray alongside the civilians.

------

Lucas Logan, despite having lost three men in capturing the crazed man removed the bag from Harkness' head with great pride has he nodded at his boss. "We got him eventually, Johnson."

"Thank you," she smiled curtly allowing Jack to be nudged reluctantly to his feet by the nozzle of a gun as his daughter and grandson came down the corridor towards him. Steven flung himself at his handcuffed relative, "Uncle Jack!"

Jack mock staggered slightly as the kid barrelled into him, "Hey, soldier!"

Johnson kept moving, "We haven't got time."

Steven, on Jack's friendly orders, returned to his mother as Jack and his escort continued down the hall. A female guard stood behind Alice who bent over to kiss Steven on his cheek as she asked, "Sorry, would you..." The guard nodded, understanding, "I'll be back."

Alice promptly ran after Jack who had barely made it to the first set of doors.

Dekker and Jack were brought into the open area previously used for football and released from their bindings. Dekker's equipment had been brought and reassembled in the middle of the floor and industrial lights loomed over the space.

Johnson followed them in, "This should be everything you need. And if it's not, we'll find it."

"For what?"

"Wavelengths. The 456 are named after a wavelength, and that's got to be the key to fighting back." Johnson nodded, her jaw firmly set. She was going to win this war.

"You're wasting your time. There's nothing you can do. I've analysed those transmissions for forty years and never broke 'em."

Without hesitation or emotion, Johnson turned to him pulling the trigger on her gun and hit him directly in the leg. With a gasp of pain he fell to the ground, Johnson looked Jack in the eye.

"What do you think, Captain? She told me you were good." Johnson nodded at Alice, who looks keenly at him, Jack smiled gently in return, a glimmer of Captain Jack Harkness creeping into his manner once more. "Was she right?"

"Let's get to work."

With a bounce in his step, and a purpose once more, Jack went about setting up the computers, rebooting all Tosh's old software. He could do it, he knew, but could he do it in time? The Doctor had once faced this, when they had first faced the Daleks, together, hand in hand in battle, and a battle against the clock; could he achieve where the Time Lord had failed? Despite the look on the Doctor's face when he had last seen him, Jack wished he was here, helping him. Guiding him. And Ianto. Both men he needed to stop him, but Jack himself hadn't realised what yet.

------------

"There's one thing I always meant to ask Jack." Gwen looked gaunt and bereaved through the lighting and camera lens. "Back in the old days. I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. All those times in history when there's no sign of him, I wanted to know why not. But I don't need to ask anymore. I know the answer now. Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame. I'm recording this in case anyone... in case anyone ever finds it. So you can see... you can see how the world ended."

Slowly, Rhys lowered the camera. He had to wipe a tear from his face, angry at himself for being so weak, when she was always so strong, before looking back up at Gwen again.

"You didn't mean it, did you? About... getting rid of it?" he asked, motioning at her abdomen.

Gwen shook her head, answering him in the negative, looking him in the eye, but not altogether sure she was telling him the truth. "Never. I wouldn't do that to you, sweetheart. No, I wouldn't, and I'm sorry."

Rhys embraced his wife thankfully, reassured by her words, his relief bypassing any suspicion he might have had under different circumstances.

-------

The Doctor grabbed his greatcoat. He needed to find him, before he did something he would regret; he may have had Ianto back, but it was not real to the unbreakable man - who had seen so much tragedy and trickery - until he had found Ianto Jones. So first, that was what the Doctor was going to do: he was going to find Ianto, _then_ he would find the anomaly. What the Time Lord did not notice was that he could not utter the man's name, even within the confines of his own mind.

-------

Jack talked animatedly at Johnson, trying to form a plan, but he was having more difficulty than usual at coming up with his usual end product of 'make things up as you go along'. "If we cycle the wavelength back at them..."

"I know what you're trying to do. A constructive wave." Dekker was sitting down; still having not received medical attention he was pale, but seemed to have collected himself. Jack watched him warily as he went on, "Do you think people aren't working on that all over the world? But it's never gonna work. The effect would be like shouting at the 456, that's all. Just shouting."

"Why did Clem die?" Jack asked. It was beginning; there at the back of the mind, he already knew.

"It was the 456 that killed him."

"But how did they do it? Why did they do it?"

"We've got the recording here." Johnson moved over to open the page.

As she did so, Jack spoke quickly, reasoning it out with one of the few men he trusted, "His mind must have synced to the 456 back when he was a child. But they didn't need to kill him. He wasn't any threat. Unless maybe that connection hurt them."

Johnson worked her way through the footage, "This is the 456 at the moment of his death. We've lifted the sound from the Thames House link."

Dekker stood up to listen as the sound of the 456 screeching played on Jack's laptop, he was finally interested.

"That sound, Mr. Dekker, what's that sound?" Jack questioned him.

"I don't know, it's new."

"Exactly... It's new."

------------

The Doctor localized the trace of Ianto; being brought back to life by your space and timeship came free with a personalized homing device. He met the car outside which a dark haired Welshman was thanking a young woman profusely. He dodged in front of Ianto, holding onto the doorframe of the car. "Emily Brown!" he grinned in pleasant recognition, "Nice of you to give my friend here a lift. I'll get him from here. Good to see you again by the way, keep brushing your teeth, and floss!"

He slammed the door shut with flair only he could pull off. "Ianto Jones! Would it surprise you if I told you that you _were_ dead?"

Ianto raised his eyebrows, "In this job, sir, it would surprise me more that you were here than I was dead."

He had a point.

-------------------

"We don't have to analyse the wavelength, just copy it. Turn it into a constructive wave. But we've got no way of transmitting." Jack's demeanor once more lost animation as he spotted this flaw. He shook his head, fighting back the urge to mention he did have a way.

"Of course you have." Jack looked at the man in disgust, did he have no sense of humanity? Did Jack?

"Shut up." Jack whispered, not daring to raise his voice higher.

"Same way as them." Dekker had a touch of fascination in his voice, he wanted to see what would happen, but more than that, he wanted to see if the infamous Harkness would actually do it.

"I'll find something else."

Johnson and Alice had been listening in silence, feeling left out in a way, throughout the two men's exchange, "What does he mean?"

"Don't listen to him." Jack muttered, more to himself than them.

"Dekker, tell me." Johnson ordered, quiet and quick.

"The 456 used children. To establish the resonance."

"Meaning what?" Johnson wanted to hear this confirmed, she had perhaps worked out what they were on to, but…

"We need a child."

"What do you mean?" Alice seemed incredulous; she was still struggling to find what was going on.

"Centre of the resonance. That child's gonna fry." _No_, Jack decided, the man had no humanity.

Dekker chuckled as Jack looked edgily at his daughter, a dark sideward's glance. She shook her head, not _wanting_ to know what they were talking about but all the same, "No, Dad. No, tell them no."

"One child or millions."

Alice was shaking, she could not believe he would… he wouldn't give the order. "Dad, no. Dad, tell them no!"

She looked pleadingly at Johnson, then back at her father, Johnson didn't even see Alice's troubled frown, "We're running out of time."

His face blank, Jack made a single nod. He closed his eyes. Knowing he could not do so later, knowing he had to watch.


	8. Repositioned

Author's Note: Well, here's the end of the road really for the Torchwood part of Reposition, I know some of you will be disappointed with certain events, but I was making a point about how… actually, if I remember or can be arsed once I've proof-read the chapter through and polished it off, I'll finish that at the end. Anyway, shortly after this chap's posted I'll get the epilogue up.

Disclaimer: *waves hand in Leo-ish manner* (damn it Hayley *slams table in Bartletian fashion* I made it to Election Day Pt 1, I meant to stop before I got there but… then I watched Part 2 and Annabeth was crying, and then everyone was happy then sad, it was, like, hanging me upside down and dipping me in and out of a giant vat of water)

Note on Language: Lucy, he uses 'correctomundo' because he's back 'in class' =P plus, since when does he stick to what he claims he'll never say again?

* * *

"_Steven!_" Alice ran for the doors.

----

A boy, David, who had been set by Rhys to guard the flap, keeping an eye on the soldiers, darted through. "Rhys. Quick."

Rhys left Gwen hastily to check the entrance. David was right: a small group of them were jogging towards the shelters.

"Incoming… Everybody out! Quick! Everybody out!" Rhys abandoned attempts at silence, and as the soldiers closed in and the occupants of the shed stood and began once more to run, the smaller kids were grabbed by adults and bundled in their arms. The soldiers began kicking in the tin door at the front as the others ran haphazardly out the back, Rhys grabbed a small girl's hand; at the same moment, the soldiers breached the door, pouring through the shed.

----

Stephen was confused; his mother was obviously worried, panicking, but Jack wouldn't do anything to harm him, he knew… but Jack wouldn't meet his eye. Jack had made him stand here, in the middle of these machines and lights and computers, and his mum was screaming at the door, pounding on the glass that separated them…

Why wouldn't Jack let her in? It wasn't Jack that stopped people from doing things; it wasn't Jack who ordered people around… Jack took him on trips away from home, to the park and the beach, Jack played ball and brought him to matches. Did the stuff that his mum couldn't afford to.

But Jack's eyes were brimming with tears, and the soldiers he had been playing with were grimly silent. It was like his friend's Pete's house when his dad had died. It was like a funeral…

Suddenly the child's mind went blank, and from that moment he could never live again.

----

The Doctor and Ianto stood outside Thames House. The former looked to his side, addressing the other man, "You can go find Jack if you want."

His voice was soft, understanding. If it had been anyone he cared about and he had thought he would never see them again he would be with them already. Ianto, however, shook his head, trembling slightly, "I owe the 456 a favor."

The Doctor shrugged flippantly, bounding up the stairs as he called, "We had better get it over with quickly then."

He swiped the psychic paper off the entry holding it up to every set of guards he passed, Ianto look at them spinning round after the fourth nodded at them, and one Naval officer saluted on their way to Floor 13. Ianto looked curiously at him, "What is that, sir?"

The Doctor flipped it round, his eyebrows shot up, despite the fact he was taking steps in twos, "It's the pass of a Doctor H. Sullivan. NATO… and security."

Ianto, despite years of chasing Gwen or Jack up sixty flights of stairs was having some trouble keeping up with the man who had a good eight hundred years of experience in the art on him. "And I would be 'security'?"

"Correct," The Doctor stopped, nodding at another officer, "NATO, I have clearance."

He skipped past; Ianto didn't think he had ever got though a building with so few scowls since he had joined Torchwood. A soldier in UNIT dress turned to face him, mouth agape. He had only ever read the files of this man, and seen a good number of pictures. _A good few seemed a little, different, to say the least though._When UNIT had first briefed him on the nature of the Doctor he had difficulty believing it. Now the legend, not to mention technically his senior as longest serving UNIT office, stood before him.

"Doctor!" he stood to attention and saluted.

The Doctor turned to Ianto with a grin, "That's friendly; he knows me."

"Doctor."

He spun towards the tank. Clapping his hands together he looked at the handiwork, "You know, Ianto my boy, it's extraordinary what British workers can get done in 24 hours when they put their minds to it. I mean, if your joiner ever takes six months to put on a bit of skirting, Colonel, just show them some pictures of this."

"What. Are. You. Doing." The Nagrae thrashed in the tank after these words, vomiting at the screen.

"Ouch," the Doctor slapped the tank. "Now, that's what I call spasmodic contractions of the gastric muscles, big guy… I always thought that was a bit of a flaw in you lot. You'd think after five thousand years of it you would have developed a decent gag reflex."

"Why. Is. The. Time. Lord. Here." The voice was neutral. The words filtered from Britain's radio service had lost all humanity in their projection from the Nagrae's speakers.

The Doctor swept round so he faced them full on. Hands in the pockets of his great coat he addressed them. "I'm here to tell you to leave. To leave without the children and _never_ return."

"Or. What."

"Go," the Doctor's voice softened, but his eyes remained steely and layered beneath the sad soft tone was a threat.

The Colonel shook his head, "It's impossible. That tank could survive a bombing. Harkness and Jones showed that already."

The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver out his pocket and held it out, "You know, I can't actually match the frequency you transmit on this little beauty, but… no-one ever remembers the plugs."

Ianto and Oduya exchanged a confused glance. The 456 were silent. The Doctor stood perfectly still with the screwdriver directed to his side. "Because each of the gases in that chamber needs to be kept at a specific temperature to create the correct conditions, there's a nice big wire coming from…"

"A heating unit." Ianto breathed.

"Correctomundo! Top of the class, Jones…" The Doctor turned around suddenly, his eyes widening in horror. A monitor showed the frequency change and a shrill whistle ran through the air.

----

Jack bent forward slightly, didn't even watch where his finger landed, he knew he had hit his target and there was no going back now. If he stopped he would be killing thousands. He couldn't look to his daughter, he knew he would break if he looked at her, but he had to watch this. For the executioner not to watch the murder would be cowardly. Even Dekker looked away, if only for a minute, Alice and Jack watched to the end. The mother still pounding on the glass as her son's body shook uncontrollably.

----

The Nagrae crashed their chamber, audible and visible in pain as blood smattered against the glass. The Doctor tore at his hair in anguish, thought of 'unplugging' the unit gone, "No, no, what are you doing?"

----

Jack heard from behind him his daughter's shrieks stop, he knew she was watching, staring at what he had created, her child's death. He hated himself, he hated everything he had become. Gwen had once told him he wasn't human. Maybe she was right.

----

"Colonel, do we have a report?" General Peirce was unaware of the Doctor's presence and the Colonel felt it might as well remain that way as he looked at the now vacant, unsoiled chamber.

"It's gone, sir. The 456 has gone." He nodded at the Doctor, closing the channel with COBRA. "Sir, I don't think _officially_ we'll say you were here. Or Jones."

The Doctor nodded, silently thanking the man as he led Ianto from the room. Not a word passed between them.

----

Alice's face was still pressed up against the glass, her breathe having caused condensation on the glass so she could barely see her dying son.

"Let her in." An order rang out, it didn't matter who had given it, only that Alice fell through and ran to Steven, collapsing beside him and bundling his limp body in her arms. Distraught cries rang through the air as she stroked her son's hair and face, urging him to be alive.

She looked up at her father; her eyes in the brief moment they met told him how much she hated him for this. How she would and could never forgive him. From Jack's impassive face, the tears fell freely, but no change in emotion was shown…

Jack sat on a bench in Ashton Down - out of respect, he guessed, everyone had left Alice alone with her son. Everyone but Johnston who had stayed with her; women were better at that kind of thing, though. Helping each other. All he ever succeeded in doing was fucking it up. He turned as the door opened.

Alice stopped in her tracks. Her face detached now, meeting Jack's, which too was tear stained, but now showing his share of guilt and grief. She looked uncertain for a mere second before she backed though the door, and left him.

Jack stood up, turned and walked through the doors. Then kept on walking.

Six months later…

Ianto's Flat.

Ianto had slowly pieced together what had happened, bit by bit. Brian Green had been disposed; his actions during the 456 Incident had been made public and had caused public humiliation and a trial due in a few months. The media were calling it the Thirteen Investigation, but MI5 refused to confirm the existence of a 'Guest Room on Floor 13'. Jack had disappeared. He hadn't even come to say goodbye, he had left a message on his Blackberry telling them that he needed to get out of Britain. Travel a bit; see what he could do to help elsewhere.

The Doctor had dropped him off at his sister's when they discovered Jack's disappearance. Then the Time Lord had simply backed into his TARDIS and warped away. Ianto wished he could run, like the Captain or Doctor, but he had to comfort his family. The Doctor told him that he wasn't immortal, that Jack was in control when he had brought him back. "So no throwing yourself off buildings" had been his bittersweet parting words.

He saw Gwen every now and then, she was busy messing with Jack's watch – he had told her to keep it, keep any of Jack's stuff she found, he didn't want it – she had spent most of the months of her pregnancy of late sorting through the fragments of the Hub that had been returned to the Williams' household.

He didn't see why she bothered, Jack wouldn't come back. He knew what the man had done. He had spoken to UNIT and Johnson and her crew. Jack didn't want reminded of this…

Ianto took a swig from the coffee beside him; he had once had an obsession with it, now… now he probably had a serious addiction.

A hill above Cardiff.

Gwen and Rhys walked up the hill to where they had promised to meet Jack. Gwen hadn't told Ianto. It killed her, but she had obeyed her former boss, just this one _last_ time. Cardiff, in all its glory lay behind them as they approached the man in the buckled greatcoat who awaited them.

"Couldn't have just chosen a pub, could you?" Gwen called out, her hand over hugely pregnant belly. Her walk was slightly awkward, but, despite everything, it was good to see Jack again. Good to know he was still real, at least.

"It's bloody freezing." Rhys had good reason to moan; he had been dashing around Cardiff for 24-hour shops for the last five months, and there was only so far you could ever get with the car. He wasn't used to it and had large blisters. Still, it was all for his great big, hormonal, stroppy wife… "My feet."

"Oh, I missed that, the Welsh complaining." Jack replied, in way of greeting to Rhys. To Gwen he just attempted a compliment. "You look good."

"I look huge." Never try that one with a vastly pregnant woman.

Rhys nodded though, satisfied in a way; he needed to take all Gwen's compliments for her at the moment. And with her quantity of them higher than his own, he was only too happy to. "She's bloody gorgeous."

Gwen, a wistful expression on her face, approached Jack, "Did it work?"

"Travelled all sorts of places. This planet is too small." He paused, frowning gently. "The whole world is like a graveyard."

"Come back with us."

"Haven't travelled far enough yet. Got a lot of dirt to shake off my shoes." Jack went ridiculously Western as he spoke. Trying and failing to lighten the mood. "And right now, there's a cold-fusion cruiser surfing the ion reefs just at the edge of the solar system, just waiting to open its transport dock."

He looked up to the sky, Gwen remained silent. "I just need to send a signal."

She gave him a keen gaze before holding up a finger, 'one second', she held up his wrist strap, "They found it in the wreckage. Indestructible. Like its owner."

Not quite indestructible, the leather had been charred and somewhat disfigured, even if the mechanism itself had survived unscathed, very like it's owner "I, eh, put on a new strap for you."

"Cost me fifty quid, that."

"Bill me!" Jack looked over at Rhys, enjoying the old school banter.

"Are you ever coming back, Jack?"

"What for?" Jack's voice was blunt.

"Me, and Ianto… It wasn't your fault." Her eyes filled with tears. "None of it was your fault."

"I think it was."

"No."

"Steven and Ianto and Owen and Tosh and Suzie and... All of them. Because of me."

"But you, you saved us. Didn't you?" Gwen reassured him, not even entirely sure of the truth of what she was saying.

"I began to like it. And look what I became. Still… I have lived so many lives. It's time to find another one." He stepped away from her, sending the signal out with a continuous beep marking it.

"You cannot just run away. You cannot run away." Gwen wanted to be angry so much, but her control over emotion was loose these days and she just wanted to cry. Her chin was wobbling on its own accord.

A teleportation field distorted Jack's image, "Oh, yes, I can. Just watch me."

Gwen watched him go in a streak of light, crying softly, she had been going to ask him if he would be godfather before he went, she had thought it might make him stay, but there had been no time. Maybe Andy was the better choice. Rhys put an arm round her. "Let's go home."

* * *

Author's Note continued... I was making a point about how the Doctor can't change everything, and save everyone, particularly with all that human nature (not the episode) nonsense

End Note: There will be ONE more chapter. Unbetaed so a little rough, it's only because someone asked me for it so I wrote it a while back and fitted it in. There's no need to read further, it's just a bit of Doctor Who leeching.


	9. Postscript: Swan Song

Thanks to... you faithful [if unaccredited] reader, thanks for making it to this point. My betas, in main **moonchild94**, my idiotic friend who I can always rely on to make _some_ scathing comment **OutCold**, **Tiva4evaxxx**, I swear I'll review everything... er, soon? **FadeIntoTheBackground**, I must thank muchly for always leaving the most gorgeous reviews despite her lack of knowledge of the weird and wonderful world of Who and **enigma-kar**, who I also owe reviews and has been pretty damn supportive throughout my record breaking writer's block.

Author's Note: If you're wondering why I was being an award winner above... this is my first completed multi-chap. And sweet crap, I used 're-' a lot in this chapter. Epilogue if you prefer. Let's see... replace, reposition, reasserting, remembered, realisation, revelling, remembered, recoiled, regret... sorry about that...

Disclaimer: Don't own dialogue. Any of it. Only the paragraph-y bits are mine. Actually and the Rhys bit

* * *

The Doctor inserted the disc pressed into his hand by Rhys Williams before he had gone. The Welshman had muttered to him in that rough way of his, "Watch it, Doctor, I want an answer for her. You give her an answer when you see her next, Doctor."

"_There's one thing I always meant to ask Jack. Back in the old days. I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. All those times in history when there's no sign of him, I wanted to know why not. But I don't need to ask anymore. I know the answer now. Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame."_

The Doctor looked upon Earth, through the door of the TARDIS, but the machine protecting him still from the deathly forces that surrounded Earth, but he closed it. He closed the door and looked away in pride. They had grown. They were always growing. And he left them to it. Because he couldn't be father forever.

It wasn't his place to replace and reposition things that were meant to happen. It wasn't his place and as far as he could manage, it never would be, fixed points in time shouldn't be unbolted. That was just the way it was.

-----

**The Author: I wasn't originally going to do this bit, but someone requested it to point out that he eventually gave up on his above thought, before realizing, to his horror, the error of his ways, she felt that the Doctor did too little in **_**Reposition**_** and a reminder of his actions in The Waters of Mars would show why there were certain things that couldn't be altered; also she wanted more Doctor, me thinks…**

**----**

Four months later…

_21__st__ November 2059…_

Captain Adelaide Brooke of Mars' Bowie Base 1 looked at the Doctor questioningly, "You saved us?"

The Doctor strode towards her, cocky, pleased with himself, with what he had done, with how he had saved them despite the so called 'Laws of Time'. "Just think though. Your daughter and your daughter's daughter – you can see them again." He smiled gently as she shook her head. "Family reunion."

"But I'm supposed to be dead."

"Not anymore." He shook his head, still revelling somewhat in the magnificence of what he had done.

"But – Susie, my granddaughter... the person she's supposed to become might never exist now." Brooke, however, struggled with the concept of what the Doctor had done, he had told her she had to die himself. _She_ had to die to allow others to live and discover and be all they were meant to be... wasn't that how it worked?

"Nah." He made a face, firm in his own belief in his judgement and Time's reasserting of itself.

"Captain Adelaide can inspire her face-to-face. Different details, but the story's the same."

Brooke interrupted him, unlike the Doctor, she was not blinded by arrogance, she remembered the look he had given her before. "You can't know that! And if my family changes... the whole of history could change! The future of the human race – no one should have that much power."

He lost his smirk, looking at her with grim determination, "Tough."

Realisation and shock evident on her face, Brooke took several steps back. "You should have left us there."

"Adelaide, I've done this sort of thing before." The Doctor began to justify what he had done, not to himself yet, just to her, he was still marvelling in his own skill, "In small waves, saved some little people. But never someone as important as you. Oh, I'm good."

"_Little_ people?" Brooke looked at the man who had saved them in disgust, "What? Like Mia and Yuri? Who decides they're so unimportant... you?"

"For a long time now, I thought I was just a survivor, but I'm not." The Doctor had a mad glint playing on those brown eyes of his that challenged the anger in the woman he faced. "I'm the winner. That's who I am. Time Lord Victorious."

Brooke recoiled from him, understanding now that truly he didn't care what he may have done to Time, or to her family, how he was playing with _her_ life and billions of others. The '_Time Lord Victorious_' had gone mad, "And there's no one to stop you."

"No." There was no regret in his voice. Just harsh satisfaction.

"This is wrong, Doctor. I don't care who you are. The Time Lord Victorious is _wrong_."

"That's for me to decide." Patronising the younger woman, knowing his own intelligence to be far greater than the fifty year-old human's, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at her door and sent her on her way with his signature smile and swagger. Part of his face still clearly showed a childish anger at having been contradicted by the person he had just spared the life of.

"All yours."

"Is there nothing you can't do?"

"Not anymore." Adelaide Brooke walked away from him, Adelaide Brooke who should be dead and still had to die, and had to die toady. Adelaide Brooke who still had the gun. Adelaide Brooke who died that day by her own hand.

And the Doctor remembered. He couldn't change everything... he wasn't that man. The Ood's song rang through the air; his swan song.

* * *

I have decided my next _new_ multi chapter Doctor Who fic or crossover will be Eleventh Doctor. I will do my best to finish some of my hiatus stories.

So, cheers for sticking with me. You reader, are a very patient person to still be reading a this point, so I will just say a few more words and vamoose. Reposition _Out_. 


End file.
